#sideblog from @montmartreparapluie

[small-stitchery]

Mini-Gown Extravaganza - Amelia the Time-Traveller Edition.

Well, now I’ve developed my ahem, interest enough to warrant a side-blog, I thought I’d finish up my grand tour of my Girl for All Time doll collection here on the doll side-blog where it belongs!  We’ve looked at my favourites Matilda & Bex here , here and here over on my main blog, checked out my take on a rework of Felicity’s meet gown for Maya here...what else could there possibly be to look at?

Well, this is my collection of “rehomed dolls”. I downsized a while back (or rather - sold off some dolls to make room for more, different dolls?) Dolls that were nice, but really deserved a better home where they could be somebody else’s favourites... like Amelia here:

She’s a nice enough doll! She even has a bit of an “Alice-In-Wonderland” look about her. But there are so many, many MANY blonde-haired blue-eyed dolls out there, and as a brunette myself I’ve always been a bit... resistant. Maybe its the “ Mean Girls legacy, or something. But she photographed beautifully, and was another doll who looked great in anything I put her in. 

And I made so many clothes for her!

1880s Amelia

I made her a little 1880s style bustle dress. (which I really love the look of, by the way - a real shame American Girl never did any 1880s historical dolls) from a pattern in “The Dolls Dressmaker” book, by Venus A. Dodge.

She also had a matching combination ruffled petticoat to go beneath. This was basically an A-line sleeveless dress that I sewed a series of ruffles to to get the ‘bustled’ look. Again, a basic pattern from the Dolls Dressmaker. 

1880s Underwear Amelia:

(The keen-eyed viewer will note Felicity’s Scenes and Settings in the background - something I BEGGED my mother to hang on to. Alas, it wasn’t to be. There’s a lucky doll-owner elsewhere in the UK with it now who drove halfway across the country pre-COVID to get it) 

Nightwear Amelia:

A quick little nightdress I whipped up for her out of PemberleyThreads’ “Clara”  Nightgown pattern for 16 inch dolls. I shortened the sleeves and added some organza trim to imitate ruffled.  She also got a little simple dressing robe made out of craft cotton.

And then later (because you CAN’T keep me out of the 18th century, one way or another)  I made her a black and white striped gown based on the dress Christina Ricci wears in the  1998 Sleepy Hollow movie... 

18th Century Amelia

This one was a modified version of the gorgeous Thimbles and Acorns “ Marie Antoinette” available on Pixie Faire here: https://www.pixiefaire.com/products/marie-antoinette-zone-front-gown-18-doll-clothes.

The fabric started life as a striped cotton pillowcase.

 It’s not the easiest of patterns, as I found out, but it looks perfect when finished. They do a version for American Girl, so my Elizabeth may get a version once she’s arrived!

Finally, I tried out Regency on her, using remnants from my Kaffe Fassett shot cotton! The pattern’s another Pemberley Threads, but this time also with an option for American Girl dolls. 

(The little bergere hat isn’t Amelia’s, by the way: it belongs to Sylvia, whose 18th century gown and undergarments you can find here at my mainblog)

Regency Amelia:

It makes me quite nostalgic looking at all her photos! However, when it came down to choosing between her and Bex - I’m sorry, my unconscious bias against blonde-haired white dolls won.

#a girl for all time doll #amelia doll #agat doll #daughters of history ltd #doll dressmaking #small-stitchery projects #sideblog from @montmartreparapluie #regency doll clothes #doll clothes #my doll dressmaking #doll sewing #doll collection #dollblr #mini-dressmaking #doll dress #doll gowns